WSU, WSDOT defend decisions in wake of two fatal crashes

WSU, WSDOT DEFEND DECISIONS IN WAKE OF TWO FATAL CRASHES

Over this past weekend, two WSU students from Bainbridge Island and Snohomish died in separate accidents on icy roads while driving back to the Pullman campus.

SEATTLE – Two fatal accidents on state highways have prompted fresh questions about Washington State University, and what it takes to get to campus.

Over this past weekend, two students from Bainbridge Island and Snohomish died in separate accidents on icy roads. Both were attempting to comeback to the Pullman campus. The accidents, on Interstate ninety and State Route twenty six respectively, are main routes for WSU students from Western Washington.

The student from Bainbridge Island was one of five passengers in a vehicle that collided with two others near Cle Elum. There were four other people injured in the collision.

Monday was the very first day of the spring semester.

WSU President Kirk Schultz sent a welcome tweet, and linked a ‘GIF.’ It prompted a backlash on social media, who found the tweet in poor taste given the events of the weekend. Tracy Cracraft, who is the mother of WSU football broad receiver Sea Cracraft, even called for Schultz to be fired. Others wondered why WSU didn’t cancel class altogether.

"Those roads are not the widest obviously, and the weather over on the Eastside, and I would say just say these are two senseless things that have no to blame truly," one student, a friend of the Bainbridge Island victim, told KREM-2.

State Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, a WSU alum who has been critical of Schultz in latest months, stopped brief.

"It’s hard to know ahead of time, whether people are going to be injured ahead of time, whether people are going to be injured like that on their way to class,” Baumgartner said. “I think the WSU administration will be understanding if people have to miss class."

"We want to proceed to educate our students how to drive securely in the winter, and don’t want people to feel like they have to rush back,” he added.

The Washington State Department of Transportation also says switch is on the way, eventually, to the roadways.

Al Gilson of WSDOT said SR twenty six will get a truck climbing/passing lane thanks to the two thousand fifteen Connecting Washington legislation, and will be done by 2025. US one hundred ninety five will be getting four fresh "passing opportunities" inbetween Colfax and Spangle by 2018, according to Gilson.

WSU issued a statement about the accidents, telling, in utter:

“The university wishes to extend condolences to the families of the two students who died tragically in separate traffic accidents this weekend, as well as any other students who may have been injured while travelling.

“As a residential campus, WSU Pullman almost never closes. It is literally home to thousands of students, which makes an actual suspension of operations fairly problematic. Staff is required to support our operations twenty four hours a day and large numbers of students live on campus even inbetween semesters.

“WSU routinely encourages students to take weather conditions into account when traveling to and from Pullman. Students left Pullman before Christmas knowing that classes were to resume on Jan. 9. And in fact, numbers of students began returning to campus early last week.

“Like most public school districts, WSU makes decisions on closures at each of its campuses in the early morning, using presently known local conditions, not forecasts or reports of conditions in other parts of the state. Local conditions in the Pullman neighborhood this morning generally included compound snow and ice with a one to two inch cover of fresh overnight snow. Those conditions are not unusual for Pullman at this time of year and, albeit they prompted delays in some school openings, they did not prompt local public school closures."

WSU, WSDOT defend decisions in wake of two fatal crashes

WSU, WSDOT DEFEND DECISIONS IN WAKE OF TWO FATAL CRASHES

Over this past weekend, two WSU students from Bainbridge Island and Snohomish died in separate accidents on icy roads while driving back to the Pullman campus.

SEATTLE – Two fatal accidents on state highways have prompted fresh questions about Washington State University, and what it takes to get to campus.

Over this past weekend, two students from Bainbridge Island and Snohomish died in separate accidents on icy roads. Both were attempting to come back to the Pullman campus. The accidents, on Interstate ninety and State Route twenty six respectively, are main routes for WSU students from Western Washington.

The student from Bainbridge Island was one of five passengers in a vehicle that collided with two others near Cle Elum. There were four other people injured in the collision.

Monday was the very first day of the spring semester.

WSU President Kirk Schultz sent a welcome tweet, and linked a ‘GIF.’ It prompted a backlash on social media, who found the tweet in poor taste given the events of the weekend. Tracy Cracraft, who is the mother of WSU football broad receiver Sea Cracraft, even called for Schultz to be fired. Others wondered why WSU didn’t cancel class altogether.

"Those roads are not the widest obviously, and the weather over on the Eastside, and I would say just say these are two senseless things that have no to blame indeed," one student, a friend of the Bainbridge Island victim, told KREM-2.

State Sen. Michael Baumgartner, R-Spokane, a WSU alum who has been critical of Schultz in latest months, stopped brief.

"It’s hard to know ahead of time, whether people are going to be injured ahead of time, whether people are going to be injured like that on their way to class,” Baumgartner said. “I think the WSU administration will be understanding if people have to miss class."

"We want to proceed to educate our students how to drive securely in the winter, and don’t want people to feel like they have to rush back,” he added.

The Washington State Department of Transportation also says switch is on the way, eventually, to the roadways.

Al Gilson of WSDOT said SR twenty six will get a truck climbing/passing lane thanks to the two thousand fifteen Connecting Washington legislation, and will be done by 2025. US one hundred ninety five will be getting four fresh "passing opportunities" inbetween Colfax and Spangle by 2018, according to Gilson.

WSU issued a statement about the accidents, telling, in total:

“The university wishes to extend condolences to the families of the two students who died tragically in separate traffic accidents this weekend, as well as any other students who may have been injured while travelling.

“As a residential campus, WSU Pullman almost never closes. It is literally home to thousands of students, which makes an actual suspension of operations fairly problematic. Staff is required to support our operations twenty four hours a day and large numbers of students live on campus even inbetween semesters.

“WSU routinely encourages students to take weather conditions into account when traveling to and from Pullman. Students left Pullman before Christmas knowing that classes were to resume on Jan. 9. And in fact, numbers of students began returning to campus early last week.

“Like most public school districts, WSU makes decisions on closures at each of its campuses in the early morning, using presently known local conditions, not forecasts or reports of conditions in other parts of the state. Local conditions in the Pullman neighborhood this morning generally included compound snow and ice with a one to two inch cover of fresh overnight snow. Those conditions are not unusual for Pullman at this time of year and, albeit they prompted delays in some school openings, they did not prompt local public school closures."